Distractions

I'm fairly certain that I'm in denial. I think if I just keep looking forward to 'moving to Germany' then I won't break down over the fact that it also means I have to leave Colorado. Mostly I just focus on the first half of that sentence.

There's clearly enough to keep me distracted - getting the house ready for the market, what kind of car should I buy to take with us, school is starting in 4 days. There's a convergence of events looming with enough need for attention that it's so easy to think only of the next hour.

But when worrisome thought butt in...
-- like the fact that I mostly missed my entire last summer in Colorado (only my favorite time of year here!)
--that I'll be practically giving away the house I've raised all my babies in
-- that we won't have perfect skiing and a perfect condo only 2 hours away
-- that I'll be leaving only the best friends I've made in my adult life here.
Well, I push through and focus on the bookshelves I have to re-arrange. Because you see, if I actually sat here and let it overcome me, I would just. lose it.

Maybe if I box up some clothes now, the tears will subside.

My How Life Changes

If there's one thing I've learned from being a military wife, it's that life can change in an instant. And there's always a change.

I wonder to myself if those families who live, marry, and raise kids in one place enjoy that brand of predictability, or if they find it boring. Probably both. At least I pine for that, but only somewhat. The living in one place until your kids are grown and off. It's appealing in a cozy, quaint sort of way.

But we're not to know that life. The one where our kids grow up with the other kids on the block and Dad's home every night by 5:45 forever after. Ours is more the 'Dad's sometimes home, sometimes deployed, sometimes training, sometimes living in another state. We may stay, we may move, we're definitely staying, we're probably moving- kind of life.' Just a bit of a roller-coaster.

Which brings me to the latest hill. Ric got a call last week that he was chosen for a job in Stuttart, Germany, a 3-year assignment.

So much for our plan to remain in Colorado for 3 more years. First disbelief and doubt, followed by trepidation and lastly excitement. A lot to think about, a busy year lies ahead with now a long list of major changes. But we're all looking toward an adventurous stint in a foreign culture.

That is, unless things change.